Clever.. very clever. If any state employee refused federal requests for these addresses, they would be harboring fugitives. Thank you @GovWhitmer for helping us root out the illegal population that is bankrupting us!

Tag Archive for Cindy Gamrat

I was driving through St. Louis when I got the news that Larry Inman had been indicted.

It was pretty big news. Disappointing, yet it didn’t surprise me. In fact, there has been so much ‘questionable’ activity going on in Lansing for decades that it was not surprising that a representative with a record of poor instincts would be the victim of a sting operation.

At least that is my assessment of what happened. Clearly there is pay for play in our state politics. The existence of the MEDC, and by extension any organization that profits from doing business with the state would have incentive to fill campaign coffers. Ask any one who still raises money after they have been term limited why they do so. If they don’t tell you directly, then look at their campaign statements on the debt side.

It’s not for charity.

Mistakenly express the the wrong sentiment, in a way that is contextually vulnerable, to the wrong people, in the wrong format. Then whammo! You get a Representative Larry Inman indictment.

But the GOP led house, wishing to remain unscathed in a (heavens forbid) scandal of such magnitude would prefer to let Larry off the bus, ask him to inspect the rear brake lights, and …well as one might see by now, the bus does have reverse.

Just a few short weeks ago, it appeared that the Presidential race and State House elections would dominate political news in Michigan for the rest of the year. Now it appears that courtrooms in Detroit and Lansing will provide compelling political drama as well. Drama which is going to cost Michigan taxpayers a bunch of money.

There have been a number of lawsuits filed over the Flint water fiasco (over 71!), but yesterday a consortium of law firms filed a Federal class action lawsuit on behalf of Flint residents using the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. This represents a whole new level of legal pain. Civil RICO provides for treble damages when a pattern of racketeering is proven to have occurred over time. It also guarantees the plaintiffs’ lawyers fees, a small fact which assures that civil RICO lawsuits will be pursued with enthusiasm to the bitter end. Conviction applies the stigma of typical previous RICO defendants, such as mobsters and drug kingpins, to a losing defendant. Michigan, at large, is a defendant in this suit. Capisce?

Cindy Gamrat is not giving up on setting the record straight in a recent messaging effort.

In my opinion she is rightfully standing firm and remains the best choice for voters in tomorrow’s special election. A strange mission by house leadership, and the agenda that is in play to control the 80th district seat and its votes is simply bad for Michigan. Our Lansing politicos have indeed gone to the dark side (timely Star Wars reference) after pretending a change to be made in the way things are done in the capitol.

The problem is that there is a lot of money to be made for SOME folks as the Michigan legislature passes more and higher taxes upon the serfs of the state. As we’ve seen, no majority of GOP in our houses can guarantee responsible management of what we have already surrendered, as long as the special lobbying interests push higher taxes to pad their road building bank accounts.

More campaign finance reports are trickling in to the Secretary of State’s Bureau of Elections and it is clear that an avalanche of money from establishment Republicans is backing Mary Whiteford in the State House of Representatives 80th District special election. You have to dig a little to figure out just how much money and from where, but most of the evidence is available. Let’s call this the ‘money poll’.

Ms. Whiteford’s official committee (BoE 516401) has collected $ 28,200, plus another $ 2,807.96 of in kind contributions (actually expenditures) by the candidate herself. Great Lakes Education Project, an IRS 527 political action committee, has been furiously mailing cards supporting Mary Whiteford and trashing Cindy Gamrat. – $ 15,477 worth. So a total of $ 46,484.96. Another group, Michigan’s Voice (LARA 71630M), has made at least one mailing on Mary Whiteford’s behalf, but little is known about this recently incorporated (10/26/15) group and they have made no filings with the SoS BoE. By law they have 10 days to file, so we probably won’t know anything further about their efforts until after the primary. A well targeted mailing in the 80th costs around $ 4,000, so the Michigan’s Voice effort elevates Ms. Whiteford’s total funding in this special primary above $ 50,000.

Only 26 of Ms. Whiteford’s contributions – $ 6,300 – came from within the 80th District (excluding the candidate’s own contributions), far less than the 200 plus contributions that came to her from within the District in her first election attempt last year. This year, 85% plus of her funding is coming from establishment Republicans from outside the 80th.

As the inflation protected taxes and unnecessary fees are imposed, the shame of those who ‘unelected’ a particular representative from Allegan County should be pronounced and clear.

Cindy Gamrat would have provided you with cover Representative Gary Glenn. I don’t see you bragging this one up like your near-miss confiscation legislation. You voted to remove her to keep your house overlords happy. Aren’t you proud?

Farm bureau will still love you Triston Cole, as the fuel taxes and registration don’t hurt your lobbying buds. Never mind the rest of the suckers who bought the AFP nonsense in the last election cycle that you would fight for the taxpayers.

Oh yeah those guys..

Sure enough, something must have happened to AFP along the way to the bank. Ever since Scott Hagerstrom was departed from the ranks of the organizing 501(c)4, it seems to have lost its way. What was once the messenger of a clearly recognizable message of no new taxes, or growth of government, has now apparently blessed this newest blasphemy of conservative principle. Representative *Larry Inman says in a response to a text:

“Hi Jason, Pete Lund says he will accept our package, mostly coming from the General fund and user fees. We needed some gas tax. Senate and Governor told us to do it to fix the roads.”

So now AFP calls the shots along with the RINO governor?

Pete Lund of the AFP says “he will accept” the package. How special. Why do we bother sending anyone to Lansing anymore if they cannot abide by the principles they campaign on. Why do we bother with pretenders?

What about it Lee Chatfield? Is the same moral compass which drove you to throw out due process last month pointing North now? Are you happy to have been pushed into a corner where you can no longer appropriately represent your district; many of whom in it cannot afford the trivial increases you just voted to support in ever increasing perpetuity?

Last night, Fox 2 Detroit aired a very interesting “Let It Rip” featuring host Huel Perkins, a VERY unusually reserved Charlie Langton (I have not seen him this quiet for so long…ever), Charlie LeDuff (who was on his “A” Game last night), and disgraced ex-Michigan Representative (and now candidate for Michigan 82nd District) Todd Courser.

The interview went much better than last week’s “Off the Record” where Tim Skubick uncharactisticly put on the kid gloves and lobbed softballs, while Chad Livengood was strangely absent from the panel.

As I alluded to above, LeDuff got in more than a few good questions for Courser (I won’t spoil them if you haven’t clicked on the link to last night’s show above).

I will save everyone some time by mentioning that the first segment is the only one featuring Courser. The “Let It Rip – On The Road” segment dealt only with the made-up Ben Carson kerfuffle from last week’s Meet the Depressed.

Recall by constituents would have been a more appropriate option in the Todd and Cindy debacle.

In the hours leading up to what finally happened, deals were likely made that will hardly resonate later as good policy decisions. “get your merry caucus of non voting dems to do their job, and I’ll make sure you get …,” the highly probable statement from house speaker Kevin Cotter to house minority leader Tim Greimel. Greimel apparently held out for the ‘investigation’ carrot as well. Democrat Floor Leader Singh implied this after Roll Call 295, when he motioned to send the entire matter back to committee.

The House Democrats wanted – and got – more than just a couple of scalps. Their blackmail was effective because all of our representatives were bone tired after 13 plus hours of ‘Rule 32’ imprisonment and ready to go home for the weekend. A Michigan State Police investigation of this sorry situation will almost certainly embarrass House leadership far more than the behaviors of Representatives Courser and Gamrat. They made mistakes, but weren’t sufficiently connected or protected politically to extract themselves once exposed.
Apologies NOT accepted.

Gamrat believed she and her lawyer and all involved understood that it would be ‘censure, not expulsion’ if she prostrated herself in a very public mea culpa. Three hours of intense discussions between her, the House Majority counsel, and her own attorney fleshed out what she considered conditional admittance. According to Gamrat, Hassan Beydoun, Majority Counsel, told her “we can control our side ..” when sealing the ostensible censure deal.

Gamrat says the House leadership did not want to go all the way through removal. Leadership did not want to own an expulsion, which would encourage voters to examine other Lansing shenanigans. Approached multiple times by different legislators and implored to resign, Cindy Gamrat refused. She says the pressure was beyond intense. Gamrat’s resolve held all the way out to 4 AM when it became clear that the House leadership could not, or would not ‘control their side’.

Michigan House speaker Kevin Cotter is turning out to be a real turd in the punch bowl.

Personal ‘Impropriety,’ and the lack of ‘qualifications’ are two very different things. Of course the State Constitution allows each house to determine the qualifications to occupy a seat as a representative. It ALSO allows the house under certain circumstances to (remove) “expel” sitting representatives with a two thirds majority vote.

§ 16 Legislature; officers, rules of procedure, expulsion of members.

Sec. 16.

Each house, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, shall choose its own officers and determine the rules of its proceedings, but shall not adopt any rule that will prevent a majority of the members elected thereto and serving therein from discharging a committee from the further consideration of any measure. Each house shall be the sole judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its members, and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected thereto and serving therein, expel a member. The reasons for such expulsion shall be entered in the journal, with the votes and names of the members voting upon the question. No member shall be expelled a second time for the same cause.

Qualifications, elections, returns, are all specific to the elections, and the follow up is the expulsion clause.